Welcome back to the long-awaited blog post:)
I know I am so bad at posting on here, I constantly have people texting me to post something but I’m extremely picky with what I post on here because I want to provide the best content that represents who I am. So here we are, what better way to represent me than books?!
So let’s get straight to it, anyone who has ever seen my Goodreads knows how much of a reader I am. I am constantly getting bothered by how much I read which is an unhealthy amount…. But you must be wondering, why do you like reading so much?
The story behind this is that I was born in Vietnam. I moved to the United States when I was about 5 years old and right at that time I started transitioning to kindergarten. While I only have good memories of those times, I can only imagine how many people bullied me because I didn’t know how to speak English. It’s extremely tough, especially for immigrant children to have to live in a whole new place that they’ve never known of and be forced to adapt to the environment that they’re given. For about two years starting from the beginning of kindergarten to all of first grade, I was always pulled aside out of class to learn English at my school. It was tough because I was always missing out on all the fun but it was also tough because I didn’t understand anything that was going on either so learning English had to be a priority. I was going through a lot as a kid but luckily for me at the end of first grade I was one of the only people to graduate from those English learning classes so I no longer need to go to them from there on out. After second grade came by, I immediately had a huge increase in my English skills, so much to the point where my reading skills were off the charts for a second-grader. I later went on that year to read the entire Harry Potter series, a series that not even a lot of people my age right now could’ve read.
Basically, at a young age, I learned the value of reading and how important it was. I was never a math person growing up, and there are some days that I wish that I was but nonetheless, I am so thankful for the fact that I am such an avid reader. Like all things in life when you start to find the value of something, it means more to you and you’re willing to go out of your way to preserve that feeling and that was me with reading. I remember getting those reading logs every single month and I was the only kid to consecutively read for two hours every single day because I was so sick of not knowing anything and that dedication and commitment alone made me a motivated reader.
I was also that kid that loved the Scholastic book fairs, and yes I actually bought books, not just the smelly highlighters and glow-in-the-dark pens and erasers. I remembered buying so much from them and I vividly remember when I was in third grade I started bawling my eyes out because I was afraid that I was gonna miss the book fair because I was in Texas for the entire week that they were having it. On another note, let’s bring back book fairs but for college students because I could truly use some more books for a better price because I can’t keep paying $16+ for books….
Anyways as my elementary school years went by, I was constantly forcing myself to read more books and it wasn’t against my own will, I LOVED reading. I’m extremely thankful for all the late nights that my parents stayed up with me because I was determined to read for two hours every single day. My parents don’t speak really speak English or understand English very well but I really appreciate the fact that they would stay up and try their best to teach me to read and would listen to me read out loud because it helped fuel my passion. I also really appreciated my dad getting me a library card when I was younger and he would take me to the library every two weeks so I could check out books. I do not own a library card anymore because I like collecting physical copies and I have too many attachment issues to let them go. A lot of people ask me to get a library card anyways but I seriously do love collecting books rather than returning them.
But anyways, I’m not good at many things in life, but I consider reading to be one of my best traits. I sound like a loser for saying that but I don’t expect people to understand reading. While most kids at my school loved the math classes, I always enjoyed the reading classes and I was good at analyzing text and writing papers.
Recently I’ve been working a lot this summer and not being able to read as much as I used to which honestly sucks because it’s something I look forward to every single day of my life. There’s something so satisfying about having a long day and relaxing with a book. Books are truly something special because they help you escape reality for a bit. Whenever I was sad or happy or stressed, my first coping mechanism was to read.
This is kind of a loser-ish thing to admit but I can successfully read a book a day, or even two. Many people when they are forced to read hate it and it feels like 100 pages could be so long to them but to me that is very easy work because once I start reading I go all in for the next few hours nonstop.
I understand why many people hate reading though because growing up schools would constantly force us to read boring texts or stuff that no student is interested in. I understand why schools had to make us read those things though because it’s for educational purposes but at a young age, I wish they put more emphasis on reading books that we liked because I would remember that many kids would still do the reading logs every month because they got to read books they liked and also because their parents forced them but you get the point. For me personally, I don’t particularly enjoy a lot of the classic stories just because I feel like I’m too young to understand them and because the writing style is very different than most modern-day books. It trips me up so much and then it takes me longer to finish the books and I’m impatient. Although now and then I try to sneak in a classic book to read because I do think they have really important storylines I just have a hard time comprehending them.
Recently I’ve also been expanding my reading genre because I used to only read contemporary or romance but now I’m trying new things like horror, fantasy, and some historical fiction now and then. While they aren’t my favorite genres in the entire world I’ve been reading some excellent books recently in those genres and at the end of the day, it’s all about finding a good book that has your interests.
I firmly believe that every single person out there could be a reader if they read things they liked. For example, we’ve spent most of our years in school reading books that we weren’t interested in and because of that we perceive that all books are boring and lame but if people actually took the step to find a book that they could possibly like, they could end up enjoying it and love reading. While it might not mean much to anybody reading this blog right now, I promise you if you read something that you were interested in you’re gonna like books a lot more.
I also hear from a lot of people that they don’t have a lot of time to read which makes perfect sense because honestly I don’t either but I force myself to find time during the day to read because I personally love it so much but that’s probably why many people don’t start reading until they’re adults because they have more downtime when their kids go off to school or after work and what not.
As of today as I’m writing this post, I’m gladfully able to admit that I own 311 physical books (Not counting manga, tbh I don’t wanna know much manga I have) You might be thinking oh my god that is so much and so much money but honestly while many kids my age are spending their money on clothes and shoes and video games, whenever I get a paycheck the first thing I do is step into Barnes & Noble or Half Price Books and while I’m at it, I might pick up a volume or two of Manga:)
Speaking of that I’ve always read Manga growing up but just online because I promised myself that I would never collect them just because there are so many volumes in every series and while they’re cheap to buy individually, it adds up and gets super expensive. Unfortunately for me, I ended up collecting them anyways which put a huge damper to my bank account but I’m all about buying second-hand or finding better and cheaper ways to buy books just because I am a broke college student myself at times, so recently I’ve been going to half-price books to buy all my books and manga because I save so much more money that way. Now I only buy manga that is either a short series or one I truly love. Or I just buy 3 volumes of a series to preserve space.
So in conclusion, I’m very thankful to have such a wonderful hobby like reading because it does help me deal with my life. I like to be the person that tries and understands everyone out there and reading books gives me perspective on different people, because at the end of the day most people just want to be heard but feel like they never get that and I wanna be the person that helps them feel like they are being heard.
Remember, people come and go but books will always be there. I consider books my safe spot because I feel like books truly understand me as a person because I’ve read so much in my life that I’m able to relate so deeply to specific books and characters. Books to me are like music, they put your thoughts and feelings in words that you can’t put to words yourself.
What makes me so sad is that back in the day there were times when people would burn books because they didn’t want that type of knowledge getting out and I always think to myself like all the knowledge in those fires that we will probably never get back.
Basically, if you’ve made it this far to this post, most of you probably don’t even know that I own so many books or that I read so much every single day because sometimes it’s kind of embarrassing to see that my reading goal was 100 this year and I am 116 books in…. The year isn’t even over yet.
So in conclusion, pick up a good book now and then and try reading it, and if you like it let me know because I’m all about discussion for books. Not many of my friends read so I’m thankful for my sorority where we have many girls who love reading because then we can talk about books all the time but if you ever need recommendations, ask me!
At the end of the day, people always say oh I wish I could read like that, but in reality, you can because if you wish for it you probably can do it yourself but I get it, people simply don’t want to and that’s perfectly fine. I hope you guys enjoyed my blog post on the importance of reading in my life and how quite literally my life is in books because that's all that I know of nowadays. I will be making a pitstop to Barnes & Noble and Half Price Books tomorrow if I’m not sick anymore:)
Thank you for reading my blog and I hope you all have a very great rest of your week:) (Linking my Goodreads below if you’re interested in seeing what books I read and what not!)
Check out my profile on Goodreads!
- Sincerely, TT
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